European Cricket League
 European Cricket League Logo | |
| Administrator | European Cricket Network |
|---|---|
| Format | T10 |
| First edition | 2019 |
| Latest edition | 2024 |
| Next edition | 2025 |
| Tournament format | Group Stage and Knockout |
| Number of teams | 35 |
| Current champion |  Hornchurch |
| Most successful | Hornchurch VOC Rotterdam Pak I Care Badalona Dreux Ville Royale (1 title each) |
| Website | European Cricket Network |
The European Cricket League (ECL), is a T10 cricket league contested by the cricket clubs of European countries. It was formed with a goal to develop and popularise cricket in the European continent.[1] The league was founded in 2018.
The league is played in the T-10 format among clubs all around Europe that are champions in domestic tournaments in their respective countries.[1] The inaugural tournament in 2019 took place in La Manga Club, Spain with 8 clubs participating.[2] VOC Rotterdam were crowned the champions who defeated SG Findorff by 101 runs in the final.[3] It was viewed on live TV & streamed around the world in over 120 countries in more than 140 million households by over 40 broadcasters.[4]
There have been four editions of the ECL, with each winner having only one title. The first edition took place in 2019, with Dutch club VOC Rotterdam winning the inaugural championship. In 2022, Spanish team Pak I Care Badalona emerged as the champions while Dreux Ville Royale from France claimed victory in 2023.[5] England's Hornchurch secured the title in 2024.[6][7][8]
History
[edit]The league was founded in 2018 by Daniel Weston with eight official International Cricket Council member federations on board, namely Russia, Netherlands, France, Italy, Denmark, Romania, Spain and Germany for the first tournament in 2019. Event organisers have since increased the number of federations and eligible teams for future tournaments.[9][10]
The 2020 edition was scheduled to be once again held at the La Manga Club in Spain, this time with 16 participants (up from 8 in 2019, with the additions of the Belgian, English, Finnish, Irish, Norwegian, Romanian, Scottish, and Swedish National Champions), but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain.[11] The 2021 edition was then scheduled to once again be held at the La Manga Club, but was again cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ECL22 saw a massive expansion for the competition, seeing champions from 963 different club teams (plus the previous winners VOC Rotterdam) invited to take part.
ECL board
[edit]Fellow ECL board members Frank Leenders and Thomas Klooz were both part of the marketing team of the UEFA Champions League. Leenders and Klooz both joined TEAM Marketing (Team Event and Media Marketing)[12] in 1992 and played significant roles in the rebranding of the UEFA Champions League during its formative years. Leenders went on to become managing director and a member of the Board of Directors, while Klooz rose to become CEO of TEAM and was also on the board of directors.
ECL CEO Roger Feiner is a former director of broadcasting at FIFA from 1999 to 2002, responsible for the global TV rights and TV broadcasting of the FIFA Confederation Cup in Mexico in 1999 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan/Korea amongst others.[13][14][15][16]
Seasons and winners
[edit]| Season | Winner | Runner-up | Win Margin | Most Runs | Most Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019
|
VOC Rotterdam 222/0 (10 overs) |
 SG Findorff121/9 (10 overs) |
101 Runs | Scott Edwards (233)
|
Syed Siiwiherazi (9)
|
| 2022
|
Pak I Care Badalona 84/3 (9 overs) |
Tunbridge Wells 81/7 (10 overs) |
7 Wickets | Chris Williams (477)
|
Muhammad Babar (23)
|
| 2023
|
Dreux 131/5 (10 overs) |
Hornchurch 69/8 (10 overs) |
62 Runs |  Jason Van Der Merwe (641)
|
Tabish Bhatti (27)
|
| 2024
|
Hornchurch 95/3 (8.5 overs) |
 Old Victorians 93/5 (10 overs) |
7 Wickets | Jonty Jenner (603)
|
Harry Hankins (24)
|
| 2025
|
References
[edit]- ^ a b "European Cricket League – About". ECL. Retrieved 11 February 2020.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "First European Cricket League Set for Major Global Audience". Cricket World. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ Daniel Beswick (31 July 2019). "VOC Rotterdam claim 1st ECL title". Emerging Cricket. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
- ^ "ecl.cricket". European Cricket League. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- ^ "Dreux from France emerge victorious in ECL23, crowned champions of European Cricket". European Cricket Network. 25 March 2023. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ "Hornchurch Cricket Club Clinches European Victory in Stunning Fashion". The Havering Daily. 29 March 2024. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ "European Cricket League: Jersey's Old Victorians beaten in final by Hornchurch". BBC Sport. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ "Hornchurch are the European Cricket League 2024 champions". European Cricket Network. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ "BBC World Service - Stumped, Can the 'Champions League' of club cricket compete with the IPL?". BBC. April 2019.
- ^ "Tinder, cigars and tears: The making of the inaugural European Cricket League". www.thecricketer.com.
- ^ "CORONAVIRUS FORCES ECL MANAGEMENT TO DELAY ECL20 IN SPAIN". European Cricket Network. 2020-03-18. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "Home - TEAM". www.team.ch.
- ^ "Football professionals join hands for the European Cricket League". July 27, 2019.
- ^ InsideSport, Rajender Sharma for (July 20, 2019). "Faces behind Champions League of European Cricket". Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
- ^ "Immigrants, cricket and Europe: Can one league unite a continent? - Times of India". The Times of India. 29 July 2019.
- ^ "Roger Feiner is new Vice President Content Strategy at UPC Austria and upc cablecom". www.upc.ch.